Tanner, O.H.P., House
Also known as: Old Courthouse; DHR #58-5108 & 58-0048 (former site)
Why it's listed
Built around 1769 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, this small gambrel-roofed frame house is known locally as the Old Courthouse because John Brown, county court clerk, reportedly lived and worked there until 1781. Dendrochronology dated the timbers to 1769 and the roof rafters to 1818, matching a major remodeling around 1820 that added the gambrel roof and interior woodwork. That woodwork includes faux-paneled wainscot, grained doors and mantels, and marbleized baseboards. A rear kitchen wing followed about 1923. After decades of abandonment, the house was bought in 2006, moved 1.8 miles south because road-access rules could not be met at the original site, and rehabilitated by 2009. Its fieldstone foundations and chimneys were rebuilt with the original numbered stones. The house was listed for its architecture, as a rare surviving double-pile gambrel-roofed dwelling in the county with exceptional original fabric, including doors, hinges, windows, plaster and pine floors.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the house is a rare late-18th and early-19th-century double-pile, gambrel-roofed dwelling in Mecklenburg County, with higher integrity than the two other surviving gambrel-roofed houses of the period. It retains original construction techniques such as brick nogging and pit-sawn and hewn timbers, plus ca. 1820 woodwork with painted graining and marbleizing.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 11000606, listed August 26, 2011. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 3199 Old St. Tammany Rd., LaCrosse |
|---|---|
| County | Mecklenburg County |
| Listed | August 26, 2011 |
| Reference number | 11000606 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | ca. 1769-ca. 1923 |
| Architectural style | Colonial/Georgian; Other/Vernacular |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Rehabilitated 2006-2009 after decades of vacancy and abandonment; moved to a new site to meet county road access requirements; currently a single dwelling. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 36.61608, -78.13553 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 11000606.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q14712985
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.